101 Uses For is popular and let's hope it stays that way. Our second book is presently called 101 tips for self sufficiency; we will certainly dip into this section for ideas. So post away and let's try and get at least one thread up to 101.

over the last two years i have been working as a freelance 'professional' artist but havnt had any work since october and im running out of monay fairly quickly! i hate worrying about money when trying to be ish!

At thirty superficially doing very well, impressing parents etc. I decided I didn't want to spend another week in an office let alone another 35 years. I became a house dad, grew veg and a beard, did an MA and restored a couple of properties. In a month or so am going to be moving into hopefully my final property with a couple of acres, where I can grow an even longer beard and even more veg.

Actually I shaved off my beard because David Beckham copied me.

I'm very fortunate because my OH earns a good income in a back stabbing, political jungle of a job which she actually likes!?! And enjoys coming home to my fruit and veg. Ahem.

I had thought that it would be quite nice to work in a nursery. free plants etc.?

I write software and am a director of a small company (5 people) that designs electronics for companies that don't have the resources or experience to do it themselves.

Can't make up my mind if I'm a scientist or engineer (whether to study it or pull it apart). The ish-iness appeals to the engineer in me. I like making things work with the minimum of fuss and bother, next to no cost, and ideally with something useful at the end of it all.

I've recently packed up work and now spend most of my time rescuing our new place from being unlived in for a few years as well as doing the "ish" stuff and trying to think of something I can do from home.
After years working in print packaging (which he hated ) OH now works for a small local company that make solar and PV systems, (which he feels a lot hapier about )

Don't hate me...but I am a commercial legal executive (and solicitor in training - I qualify in 2012). We mainly deal with small and medium businesses from anything between drafting terms and conditions to large business acquisitions. Thankfully our office is an old georgian building, so we are able to open windows and nip out to a lovely park at lunchtime. Downside is that as we are a small firm, the wages are RUBBISH - and even less as I am training, I could get more as a receptionist in our sports centre! I am not greedy - it is just that it makes buying a place and land so much further off, particularly as I am in oodles of debt (long story)

Was forced to spend 6 months in personal injury when things went quiet and loathed every minute of it.

I go through phases of thinking I am going to throw in the towel and give it all up...then go through a phase when I enjoy it again. It is strange having two completely different sides of my life though, the ishy one and the professional one. The two worlds collide in the morning, when I have to go out and feed the chooks before I leave in my suit, heels and tights - usually scagging my tights on the chicken wire and getting mud all over my suit

Sometimes it is nice to be able to clean up, smarten up and go to work or have a drink in a bar afterwards, but also heartbreaking when it is a gorgeous day like today and I have veg to get out/a pigsty to finish.

"A pretty face is fine, but what a farmer needs is a woman who can carry a pig under each arm"

Oh Bonnie your post made me laugh - I do admire you but I used to work in a law firm (as a lowly WP operator) and I am just having hysterics trying to picture some of the snotty pinstriped solicitors and partners mucking out a pig sty or dealing with chook poo.

bonniethomas06 wrote: The two worlds collide in the morning, when I have to go out and feed the chooks before I leave in my suit, heels and tights - usually scagging my tights on the chicken wire and getting mud all over my suit

Sometimes it is nice to be able to clean up, smarten up and go to work or have a drink in a bar afterwards, but also heartbreaking when it is a gorgeous day like today and I have veg to get out/a pigsty to finish.

It's exactly the same for me. When I work, it's usually in a suit and smart shoes so feeding the chooks in the morning is a test of how neat I can stay. It's quite common that I turn up at work with a dusty back or muck on my trousers. I really struggle working in an office when the weather is so nice.

After 3 years of volunteering and working on very low (around£13g to start with) wages I finally managed to get a contract position as a fresh water ecologist. It is hard work, stressful with the inevitable cutbacks that will result from the Tory government and I have the shoulders and arms of a lumberjack because of all the heavy manual work but I literally have never been happier.

Previously I worked in private and public sector roles for years and found it so soul destroying. I got 'let go' from the last one for being off for 2 months with meningitis so I thought s0d it, time to make a change.

Its been a real slog but if anyone else is tempted to try it then I say go for it. If you dont mind forgoing holidays, cars and such things and can drop to the bottom and work up again then do it. Best decision I ever made and another benefit is that I am such a frugal person these days that I am actually starting to save a bit. I will never be rich but for the moment at least I am definately happy

Gem

Last edited by Gem on Mon May 24, 2010 2:21 pm, edited 1 time in total.

I have had loads of jobs over the years, some I liked more than others. They have all been office based, to my shame I have even worked for the Inland Revenue I left my last job as a PA working for an international company, the pay was good but I hated it, my boss used to think nothing of phoning me up late at night if he wanted to know something, I used to get home completely exhausted.

I eventually resigned and took the plunge to join Dave in our own business which we run from home. Its great as we can spend lots of time doing the garden and things that we like rather than being dictated to by other people. Sue

It is interesting reading about all these different jobs - I didn't know some of them existed!

I'm a secondary geography teacher. It is hard work but mostly I love it and I get to go out and about on some great field trips. Also, I think it's important to be educating the next generation about environmental issues, they are really quite concerned about it and most do their bit to recycle, save electricity etc.
If only there was less marking I'd have more time to enjoy the countryside!